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Saturday, 24 November 2012

Square Lights, Black Landmark & Ghost Lines

"The Dolphin Fountain" :- This is "Brighton Square" which is situated within Brighton's famous "Lanes". The fairy lights have recently been put in place and switched on as we are nearing the festive season, I think they make the square look magical. The fountain in the center is "The Dolphin Fountain" and it was sculpted by James Osborne, dedicated to The Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children and put in place in 1991/92. It's formal description on the public sculptures of sussex website is as follows :- "A sculptural fountain depicting two dolphins, leaping almost vertically, one above the other, with a child sat astride each animal. This sits on a tiled circular plinth that in turn sits in a large tiled, fountain basin. The whole structure is sited in the center of a circular brick paved area where tables and chairs are placed from the surrounding restaurants."

"Dark Mill" :- "Beacon Mill" can be found just by the historic village of Rottingdean on the south coast of England. It sits staring out in a South Westerly direction over the English Channel. It's a subject that I return to time and time and time again (along with the piers and the Royal Pavilion). This was shot yesterday at 17:20 pm as I'd felt the urge to get out for a while so went for a walk and some fresh air up over the hills and down to the sea.

"Scarred" :- There's a reason this image is called "scarred", it's quite obvious once it's pointed out and even more intriguing once the story's been told. What at first appears to be random rock pools and seawater is not at all but salt water gathering in indents and scars left by mankind ... Victorian mankind to be exact. Here's a brief history lesson:- The Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway was a unique coastline railway in Brighton, England that ran through the shallow waters of the English Channel between 1896 and 1901. The tracks were laid on concrete sleepers mortised into the bedrock. The single car used on the railway was a 45 by 22 ft (13.7 by 6.7 m) pier-like building which stood on four 23 ft (7.0 m)-long legs and was driven by electric motor. It was officially named "Pioneer", but many called it "Daddy Long-Legs". Due to regulations then in place, a qualified sea captain was on board at all times, and the car was provided with lifeboats and other safety measures. Here's a link to a very early photograph of "Pioneer" so you can see just how beautiful she looked (and how mad the Victorian's really were) : Daddy Long-Legs . So what you are seeing here is a parallel "ghost" tram line groove that's been left behind from the footings of "Pioneer". Further down he beach towards the city of Brighton there are still some large concrete blocks in place and some old rotting wooden stumps that were once electricity pylons used to power the ride.